Molecule News and Research

RSS

New route to understanding the origins of life

A team of scientists from France and Austria has discovered a new abiotic pathway for the formation of peptide chains from amino acids - a key chemical step in the origin of life.

13 Feb 2023

Identifying the molecular switch that regulates autophagy in plants

Autophagy, commonly known as “self-eating,” is a cellular quality control mechanism that relieves the cell of protein aggregates and damaged organelles. This system is inert under ordinary conditions and is only activated in the presence of persistent cellular stress.

13 Feb 2023

Pancreatic islet microexons play key role in islet function and glucose homeostasis

When cells copy DNA to produce RNA transcripts, they include only some chunks of genetic material known as exons and throw out the rest.

10 Feb 2023

Prolonged alcohol use and its detrimental effects on blood protein snapshot

Jon Jacobs, a biochemist, has examined the blood of people suffering from diseases including Ebola, cancer, TB, hepatitis, diabetes, Lyme disease, brain damage, and influenza.

10 Feb 2023

Novel compound curtails influenza virus replication

Viruses use the molecular repertoire of the host cell to replicate. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn, together with Japanese researchers, want to exploit this for the treatment of influenza.

10 Feb 2023

Protein-rich droplets in cells linked to many unresolved diseases

Most proteins localize to distinct protein-rich droplets in cells, also known as "cellular condensates". Such proteins contain sequence features that function as address labels, telling the protein which condensate to move into.

9 Feb 2023

Technology development could help expand usefulness of Raman microscopy

Researchers have developed a Raman microscope that can acquire information hundreds of times faster than a conventional Raman microscope.

8 Feb 2023

Synthetic biosensor could lead to better understanding of cell biology

A synthetic biosensor that mimics properties found in cell membranes and provides an electronic readout of activity could lead to a better understanding of cell biology, development of new drugs, and the creation of sensory organs on a chip capable of detecting chemicals, similar to how noses and tongues work.

8 Feb 2023

Study elucidates the structure of centromeric region in chicken cells

The genetic material inside cells is organized into structures called chromosomes. The centromere is essential for the correct division of the chromosomes via interaction with spindle microtubules when cells divide and grow.

7 Feb 2023

Scientists discover how a high fat diet expels gut parasitic worm

Scientists have discovered that a high-fat diet allows the immune system to eliminate a parasitic worm which is a major cause of death and illness in the developing world.

7 Feb 2023

Treating ovarian cancer with immunotherapy involving CAR T cells

Recent research revealed that CAR T-cell therapy, a particular type of cancer treatment in which the immune system’s T cells are directed to kill tumor cells, is successful in treating ovarian cancer in mice.

7 Feb 2023

CAR T-cell therapy effective in mice with ovarian cancer

CAR T-cell therapy, a certain kind of cancer treatment in which the immune system's T cells are programmed to attack tumor cells, is effective in mice with ovarian cancer, according to a study published in The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

6 Feb 2023

Study sheds light on why lung tumors do not respond well to immunotherapy

Immunotherapy -; drug treatment that stimulates the immune system to attack tumors -; works well against some types of cancer, but it has shown mixed success against lung cancer.

6 Feb 2023

Employing molecular anchor for more effective CAR immunotherapies

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital discovered that immune cells with the attached protein boosted the killing of cancer, irrespective of the kind of cancer cell or the type of cancer being targeted.

3 Feb 2023

Experimental optimization of prime editing to achieve high efficiency

Genome editing technologies have enormous potential for treating genetic diseases. Techniques like the extensively used CRISPR/Cas9 gene scissors target the source of the disease directly in the DNA.

3 Feb 2023

New chemical reaction could transform drug production

Pharmaceutical synthesis is often quite complex; simplifications are needed to speed up the initial phase of drug development and lower the cost of generic production.

3 Feb 2023

Easy-to-use method quantifies exosomal miRNAs

Most cancer diagnostic procedures, like endoscopies, biopsies, and mammograms, are stressful and invasive. Although blood samples may be a less unpleasant option, only a few forms of the disease can as of now be diagnosed this way.

2 Feb 2023

Novel, more accurate computational tool for long-read RNA sequencing developed

On the journey from gene to protein, a nascent RNA molecule can be cut and joined, or spliced, in different ways before being translated into a protein.

31 Jan 2023

A high-throughput drug discovery assay for the endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1

The January 2023 issue of SLAS Discovery contains a collection of four full-length articles and one technical brief covering cancer research, high-throughput screening (HTS) assay development and other drug discovery exploration.

31 Jan 2023

Proteins’ movement and the spread of antibiotic resistance

Umeå University researchers have figured out how a particular type of protein travels during DNA replication. The discovery could affect the current understanding of how bacteria propagate antibiotic resistance genes.

30 Jan 2023